Financial questions lead to split in Coplay fire groups

Council claims auxiliary hasn't accounted for money it raised.

Coplay's fire department has added fundraising to its duties because Borough Council cut off an auxiliary group from doing the job, saying it fell short of providing money to equip firefighters.

The Fire Department launched into its new role by applying for a $40,000 state grant to purchase thermal-imaging equipment and lightweight, fiberglass cylinders for their airpacks, said Chief Dave Buskaritz. It also plans to apply for $250,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to buy a new pumper.

Council separated the two organizations in December, claiming the auxiliary group -- known as the Coplay Fire Company -- has declined to give an adequate accounting of thousands of dollars raised over the years through solicitations, breakfasts, craft shows, meat raffles, bingo games, as well as events hosted at its Cherry Street headquarters.

Buskaritz also said the fire company violated state procedure in the way it handled a state fire commissioner's grant of about $10,000 late last year. Initially set aside for roof repair, the grant eventually went for airpacks, he said.

Maria Smith, a state spokeswoman, confirmed that the fire company never asked for permission to use the grant for anything other than roof repairs. The fire company would have needed such permission to use 10 percent or more of the money for something other than what it was earmarked for, she said.

Money raised by the fire company was supposed to have been used to purchase new firefighting equipment. But borough officials said they haven't seen much of the money, and firefighters still have pagers that don't work, 16-year-old helmets and a pumper dating to 1968.

Still, council declined to seek a police investigation or an outside audit, preferring to handle the situation itself.

Fire company Treasurer Raynold Ambearle turned down a Morning Call request to review company records. "I'm not going to show them to Borough Council. Why would I show them to you?" he said.

Told of complaints that firefighters hadn't been getting proper equipment, he said, "The firefighters want something, let them go out and earn their own money."

Council's separation of the two organizations turned the fire company into a social club able to raise money for itself but not the Fire Department.

Joined by ordinance in 1963, the two organizations probably will continue to maintain an informal relationship. The fire company counts among its 120 members most of the borough's 20 firefighters. It also holds the deed to the headquarters, leasing space to the Fire Department at a cost of $3,000 a year to the borough.

But the controversy may have sparked some tension.

The fire company is refusing to sign an agreement that would allow the Fire Department to keep its trucks at the Cherry Street building. The dispute started after the department asked for more restricted access to its side of the building, Buskaritz said. Fire company President Ron Hacker said his group needs access to the other side because it occasionally hosts events requiring additional space.

A small group within the fire company has always controlled fundraising for the organization, said Buskaritz and Borough Council President Beverly Miller.

Ambearle handles fire company finances, they said, while his daughter, Sandy Irving manages an auxiliary group fund they believe earns thousands of dollars a year through raffles, basket bingo and craft shows.

"Whenever I asked [about that money], I'd get the same answer: "You don't need to know that,"' Buskaritz said of the auxiliary. Irving could not be reached for comment.

Ambearle's son is former Fire Chief Jay Ambearle, suspended by council in October for unspecified reasons.

"I don't think that has anything to do with what you are after," Jay Ambearle said when asked if his removal was prompted by fundraising concerns. He declined to comment further.

Buskaritz and Assistant Fire Chief Darren Schleicher said they also have been unable to get information on the whereabouts of a $5,000 grant the fire company received in December from the state Department of Community and Economic Development for walkie-talkies and pagers.

State agencies require recipients of their grants to eventually provide them with information on what is done with the money.

But fire departments -- or nonprofit organizations working on their behalf -- are not legally required to share information on what they raise with their host municipality, said Kent Leid, administrative officer for the state fire commissioner's office.

Still, Miller said the fire company frequently invoked the cause of helping the department in both its fundraising and grant applications. Then that money would go for whatever it wanted, she said.

Initially earmarked for an exhaust system on the fire department side of the building, another $5,000 DCED grant eventually went to buy doors on the fire company side, DCED documents show.

Hacker said the fire company requested the change because the doors dated to 1945 and were in poor condition.